Over a year ago a painful condition in my head prevented me from continuing in any normal activities, which at that time included two part-time jobs, family commitments, and serving as Second Reader in our branch church.

A Christian Science practitioner and I acknowledged together that the problem was not physical, but involved a false belief that a mortal could be overcome with personal responsibilities, capable of being separated from God.

I learned lessons day by day. First, I needed to heed the Bible command "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10). Next, with increasing joy, I felt a growing sense of humility and wholeheartedly embraced it. Finally, and with some embarrassment, I realized the Psalmist had assured that "God is our refuge and strength" (Ps. 46:1); he hadn't mentioned my name anywhere! The feeling of responsibility I had been rigidly, albeit unwittingly, holding for some months was gone.

The physical difficulty ceased, and I was able to move freely through the busy holiday activities with a renewed understanding of the truth. There has not been even a hint of a recurrence of the head pain.

During this period I was most appreciative to have my daughter and her husband take me into their home and help me in any way they could.

When our family was living in Southeast Asia some years ago, we had healings of ringworm, flu, fever, and a deep wound by praying and practicing Christian Science. Just as we were to return to the United States, three large, ugly warts appeared on my thumb. Not wanting to bring back this souvenir, and not feeling able to pray effectively, I decided to take them off with a solution purchased at a drug store.

Like the man in the Bible who cast out one devil only to be filled with seven (see Matt. 12:43–45), my last state was worse than my first, for a noticeable wart appeared on my eyelid. This time I turned with patience and quiet conviction to the abiding fact that "Truth is real, and error is unreal" (Science and Health, p. 466). With gratitude for lessons learned, I rejoiced to see the eyelid normal again.

Some years later, having been asked to drive several people to a church activity, I found myself feeling resentful of needing to give up the extra time that would be required to do this. Afterward I hurried to the parking area, and fell on uneven pavement, twisting my foot. With loving words of truth, a friend helped me up, but I didn't listen; I chose instead to berate myself: "Well, that's what resentment will get you."

During the next two days the foot was very painful. A persistent refrain running through my thoughts was that I certainly had been negligent in permitting this sense of resentment to overtake me. On the third day I found myself still thinking that if I would just correct my own thinking the pain would end.

Then an angel message came loud and clear: "It's not your thinking!" Instantly, I knew this was true. I knew that as the reflection of the divine Mind, I could think and express only that which was loving and joyful. And this had always been the case. Now my thoughts were filled with gratitude for God's presence, for His unvarying goodness, and for the blessings (in this case, immediate healing of all injury to my foot) that are so abundantly available to us all.

My joy grows, and bears fruit, as the gift of Christian Science becomes more practical in every aspect of my life.

Susan Moore Wintringer
La Jolla, California